"This is the kind of common sense and compassion our immigration system desperately needs more of," Feinstein said.

Mendoza-Sanchez entered the country in 1994 without a visa to join her husband. She obtained work permits in the early 2000s, studied and worked her way up to become an oncology nurse.

The couple had been trying to obtain legal status since 2002, but their request was denied and in 2013 an immigration judge ordered them deported. President Barack Obama's administration, however, granted them two one-year stays, then adopted rules that focused on deporting criminals and allowed the couple to remain in the U.S.